


don't sleep (i know just what you're dreaming)

by glitteringconstellations



Series: Whump Bingo [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dozing When They Shouldn't, Frostbite, Gen, Hypothermia, Whump Bingo, nothing explicit though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 15:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17388956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitteringconstellations/pseuds/glitteringconstellations
Summary: The shivering was the worst part.It consumed him from head to toe, setting his teeth clattering so hard he was sure his brains would rattle out of his ears. Lance drew heavy breaths in through his nose, every breath like daggers in his lungs. There was no way he could shoot straight like this, but he clutched tightly to his rifle anyway,  looking for any sign that the relentless storm might be easing.





	don't sleep (i know just what you're dreaming)

**Author's Note:**

> I never posted this one here! This is an old fill for a prompt for the whump bingo challenge. Prompt: dozing off when they know they shouldn't.

The shivering was the worst part.

It consumed him from head to toe, setting his teeth clattering so hard he was sure his brains would rattle out of his ears. Lance drew heavy breaths in through his nose, every breath like daggers in his lungs. There was no way he could shoot straight like this, his fingers stiff and unresponsive, but he clutched tightly to his rifle anyway, eyes darting hither tither out into the darkness, looking for any sign that the relentless storm might be easing.

The shallow dugout he’d carved for himself as the wind howled and the snow blustered overhead could scarcely be called shelter. It was just tall enough for him to sit upright in, and deep enough that if he tucked himself against the furthest back wall, he had about a foot of clearance before the compacted snow opened up to the blizzard’s unyielding fury. 

He really couldn’t be sure how long he’d been stuck here. Hours, days, the time blurred together long before the gnawing pain in his toes had faded to a tingling numbness. Nothing but static greeted him on the helmet comm, the glass of the visor busted from the crash but otherwise still operation. Not that it mattered–the storm caused too much interference for any signal to get through. 

“D-d-damn it,” Lance cursed, pressing his legs closer against his chest, trying to still the quakes that still racked his body. The flint and steel he wore on a leather cord around his neck burned like frigid fire against the skin beneath his flight suit, taunting him. He had no kindling to start a fire, even if he _could_ get his fingers working properly. He wanted to stop _shivering,_ because shivering was moving and moving _hurt,_ but he was just so, so _cold_.   


He scrunched his eyes shut tight, focusing on his breathing. If he could steady his shuddering breaths, maybe he could get his extremities to follow… In through the nose, because if he opened his mouth again, his tongue might freeze. He just had to block out everything else–the wind, the cold. He tucked his chin further down, burying his exposed face in his knees. Just breathe. Focus… and breathe…

The shivering slowed, and he only felt colder for it.

The shock of cold snow pressing into the left side of his face had him gasping for breath, the pain of it leaving every exposed inch of skin in agony of a thousand pins and needles. 

When had everything gone sideways? 

 _Why did he feel so heavy_? 

His vision blurred–no, wait, that was just the blur of the blizzard gusts, a blend of stark whites against the inky darkness of the night–and his head spun. He struggled to string two thoughts together, even as he put forth a tremendous effort to summon the strength to pull himself upright. 

His gaze caught on his bayard, reverted back to its dormant state where it’d fallen from his grasp. And it hit him. 

Oh. He’d dozed. He’d dozed in a blizzard, which he knew very well could prove deadly. But his limbs had finally, _finally_  stopped trembling, a terrible stillness settling deep in his bones that frightened him more than the storm still rampaging outside his little shelter. But try as he might, he couldn’t move. The dampness of the snow seeped through his flight suit and chilled him yet further. He might have started crying, if the tears didn’t instantly freeze on his lashes.

He wished he would start shivering again.


End file.
